Background:Small-cell lung cancer is a disease affecting mostly elderly persons. Therefore, many patients show marked comorbidity and intensive chemotherapy is not possible in such patients. As the disease is most often in the ‘extensive’ stage at diagnosis, the therapy option is only palliative.Material/Methods:We used a combination therapy with vindesine and etoposide in treating 41 patients (median age: 63 years) over 155 cycles of chemotherapy.Results:This treatment resulted in a response rate of 43.9% and a median survival time of 9.3 months and thus equals established schemes in its effectiveness. However, its rate of adverse effects (hematoxicity, gastrointestinal toxicity, neuropathy) is smaller than those of the established therapy schemes ACO, EPICO, or carboplatine/etoposide.Conclusions:Therapy of advanced SCLC with vindesine and etoposide can be applied in an ambulant setting and offers an improved quality of life with equivalent therapeutic effectivity. Therefore it is especially suitable for patients of older age and fragile condition due to comorbidity.

Keywords: Vindesine - adverse effects, Vindesine - therapeutic use, Aged, 80 and over, Carcinoma, Small Cell - pathology, Drug Therapy, Combination, Etoposide - therapeutic use, Survival Rate, Vindesine - therapeutic use